Figure 3 from Metastasis-Associated Wound Repair Promotes Reciprocal Lung Epithelium Activation and Breast Cancer Metastatic Outgrowth
Year: 2026
Type: other
Abstract: Cell type–specific gene expression within the lung during metastatic outgrowth. A, Schematic of scRNA-seq experimental design using the late-stage Met-1 metastasis model. To verify metastatic burden, lungs from mice with a low or high metastatic burden (n = 1 mouse per group) were scanned by MRI 3 days prior to tissue collection. Shown are representative coronal MRI images of lungs with low or high metastatic burden, with large metastases circled in pink. Lungs were then collected from perfused mice and enzymatically dissociated for downstream scRNA-seq. B, t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) visualization of lung cells clustered by gene expression. C, t-SNE visualization of cell clusters grouped by cell type and colored by metastatic burden. D, Individual cell clusters were grouped by cell type depending on the top 3–5 most highly expressed genes per cluster, using known cell type–specific genetic markers. Average expression (Avg Exp) was defined as average log2 FC between one cell type group and all other cell types. Percent expression (% Exp) was defined as the percentage of cells within a cell type group that express each gene. E, Epithelial cell clusters grouped by cell type depending on the top 3–5 most highly expressed genes per cluster, using known cell type–specific genetic markers. Club cells, also known as Clara cells, are bronchiolar epithelial cells. F, t-SNE visualization of lung epithelial cells clustered by gene expression and colored by metastatic burden. G, Differential gene expression in AT2 cells from lungs with a low vs. high metastatic burden. Gene expression displayed by log2 FC and −log10P value. Circle size represents the significance of differential gene expression. Genes labelled in pink were enriched in AT2 cells from lungs with a high metastatic burden, whereas genes labelled in blue were enriched in AT2 cells from lungs with a low metastatic burden.
Topic: Cancer Cells and Metastasis
Subfield: Oncology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7165050774
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